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On solar science:

Philippine Journal of Astronomy EDITORIAL STAFF Editor-in-Chief John Ray Cabrera Contributing Editor John Ray Cabrera ----------------------------------------------------- Scientific Advisers: Thijs Kouwenhoven, PhD Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (KIAA) Peking University Beijing, China Jelly Grace Nonesa, PhD University of Southern Mindanao; Natural Science Research Institute Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Reinabelle Reyes, PhD (Astrophysics) Department of Astrophysical Sciences Princeton University, USA ---------------------------------------------------- Contributors: James Kevin Ty

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The Philippine Journal of Astronomy (PJA) is published by the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP), the eminent astronomical organization in the country. The Society is the major scientific and educational organization for astronomy in the Philippines. It is a general society with membership from the professional and amateur astronomy community. The journal is the first astronomical journal published in the Philippines, signifying the continued evolution of Philippine Astronomy. The Journal publishes refereed manuscripts, popular astronomy articles, proceedings of astronomical conference, letters, image submissions and reviews from amateur and professional astronomers, as well as news and announcements from the organization. For inquiries, comments, or suggestions, please send an electronic mail to the editor at pjastro@astroleaguephils.org john.cabrera@physicist.net The Philippine Journal of Astronomy is inviting both the professional and amateur astronomical community to submit scientific manuscripts and popular articles for publication in the journal. For submissions, please email the editor at pjastro@astroleaguephils.org or john.cabrera@physicist.net. Visit the ALP website at: http://www.astroleaguephils.org

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Table of Contents

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Plus a book review on: Hubble's Universe: Greatest Discoveries and Latest Images Author: Terence Dickinson

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During the early 1930's, Austrian theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli theorized the existence of a mysterious particle that causes the missing energy in nuclear beta decays. Three years after, Italian physicist Enrico Fermi named the particle "neutrino" and formulated a theory for calculating the simultaneous emission of an electron with a neutrino. Because of this remarkable discovery that gave shattered the conundrums of particle physics at that time, Fermi received a Nobel Prize in 1938, but not very long so does Pauli in 1945. There is major stumbling block out of this discovery, the particle entrapment maybe near impossible. Neutrinos could penetrate several light years depth of ordinary matter before they would be stopped, Several years later, in 1951, Fred Reines along with Clyde Cowan took the cudgels of the century's challenging aspect of physics, the neutrino detection. Initial plan was to detect neutrinos emitted from a nuclear explosion.

Having known that the nuclear reactors could provide a certain extent of flux of 10x13 neutrinos per square centimeter per second, they mounted an experiment at the Hanford nuclear reactor. The Hanford experiment yielded a large background noise due to cosmic rays even when the reactor was off. In 1955, they decided to relocate the detector to Savannah River nuclear reactor. This had a very efficient shielding against cosmic intrusion, 11 meters from the reactor center and 12 meters underground. There are three types of Neutrinos: Electron Neutrinos produced from the Sun's core, Muon and Tau Neutrino produced in laboratories or from exploding stars, also producing in themselves particles Tau and Muon. Solar Neutrinos has been so far the largest number of neutrino types to pass through the Earth with the biggest contributor component being the proton-proton reaction coming from: 2 protons = deuterium + positron + electron neutrino This reaction yielded only about 400 keV. There are other production mechanisms though that can result in an energy generation of about 18 MeV. Passing through the Earth, the amount of Neutrino flux is around 7 x 10^{10} particles per cm^{2} * second. The problem now sets at the face of the physicists. The detected number of neutrino is just about 1/3 of the predicted number. This is what they call "Solar Neutrino

All images featured in the article are derived from physicsanduniverse.com and nature.com

Problem." It led to another branching idea of neutrino oscillation, stating that neutrinos can also change flavor. This was confirmed when the total flux of solar neutrinos of all types was measured and it agreed with the earlier predictions of expected electron neutrino flux, consequently confirming also that neutrino has a mass. Looking at it, this problem poses a major conundrum in the measurement methodology, having a huge discrepancy in the numbers of neutrinos passing through Earth versus its number from the burning interior of the Sun. The early 2000s is the heydays of the solar neutrino research. During this period, scientists solved a mystery with which they had been struggling to answer for decades. The solution turned out to be a breakthrough both for physics and astronomy. So here's the smoking gun in a gist: During the first half of the century, physicists believe that the Sun shines by converting Hydrogen into Helium. According to this theory, four hydrogen nuclei(or protons) are changed into Helium nucleus, two anti-electrons(theorized to be charged electrons), and two elusive particles called Neutrinos. The process of nuclear fusion is the culprit on why we have sunshine and significantly why life flourished on Earth. Two Neutrinos are produced each time nuclear fusion occurs at the solar center. Since four protons are heavier than a Helium, two positive Electrons and two Neutrinos reaction releases tremendous amount of energy that reaches us as sunlight. Neutrinos have zero electric charge, interact rarely with matter but there are around 100 billion neutrinos from the Sun that passes through your thumbnail every second. They are practically indestructible. For every a hundred billion Neutrinos that passes through the Earth, only about one interacts with matters of which Earth was made. Because they rarely interact, they can

easily escape from the Sun's interior where they are created and bring direct information from solar fusion reaction into the Earth. was made. Because they rarely interact, they can easily escape from the Sun's interior where they are created and bring direct information from solar fusion reaction into the Earth. There were major explanations to this discrepancy issue: First, the theoretical calculations are challenged in a deepest manner possible. Either the predicted number of Neutrinos were incorrect, or the calculated production rate of the Argon atoms doesn't just fit in the model. Second, and the least discussed possibility, maybe physicist did not understand how Neutrinos behave when they travel astronomical distances. Now the theoretical calculations were refined and the data being used as variables for these calculations were improved, resulting to a more precise predictions. But where have all the cowboys gone. The solution to the missing and unaccounted Neutrinos is that same argument that they are not in fact missing, The unaccounted few shifted from being Electron Neutrino to Muon and Tau Neutrinos that are more difficult to detect. This lack of sensitivity to Muon and Tau Neutrinos is the reason that these experiments seemed to suggest that most of the expected solar Neutrinos are missing. This change in form is a quantum mechanical process called Neutrino Oscillations, It is in this process where lower energy Neutrinos change from Electron Neutrino to another type, and the process

can go back and forth depending on the Neutrino Energy. At higher Neutrino energies, the oscillation is enhanced by the interactions with Electrons of the Sun or of the Earth. This is vastly a huge contradiction to the Standard Model of Particle Physics which assumed that Neutrinos are massless, however, for them to oscillate, they must have mass. In this model, it was said that the mass of the Electron neutrino is 100 million times smaller than the mass of the Electron But the available data are not sufficient to rule out this conclusion. The solutions to this lead to the two different equivalent descriptions of a Neutrino. One is expressed in the mass of a Neutrino and the other expressed in the particles in which these Neutrinos are associated with, say for example an Electron particle with an Electron Neutrino. The relationship between mass description and particle-association description involve certain constants called "mixing angles" whose values are potentially important clues that may help lead to an improved theory on how elementary particles behave.

Neutrino Detector – Wikipedia defines it as a “physics apparatus designed to study neutrinos. Because neutrinos are only weakly interacting with other particles of matter, neutrino detectors must be very large in order to detect a significant number of neutrinos. Neutrino detectors are often built underground to isolate the detector from cosmic rays and other background radiation.”

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Last September 15, members of the Astronomical League of the Philippines (ALP) celebrated their 10th Year Anniversary Get Together Party at Manila Planetarium. Members who were present were ALP President James Kevin Ty , wife Charito and son Kendrick Cole KC Ty; ALP VP Jett Aguilar, ALP Treasurer Andrew Ian Chan, ALP Secretary Christopher Louie Lu, wife Karren and daughter Frances ; ALP director Arnel Campos and wife Michelle Campos; Ronald Sison with wife Adriel, children Adrian, Aleecia & ALdrin; Nathaniel Custodio, Vincent Gella, Joshua Herrera, Kristine Joy Perez, Justine Garcia, Edralin Lat, Norman Marigza, Dodi Maralit, Per Edman, Marlon Monzon, Miguel Cajita & dad Trix ; Alexander Loinaz, Christelle Mariano, Mark Joseph Villasis, Marvy Gulapa with wofr Ma. Theresa and son Rigel Francis ; Mark Ian Singson, Renato dela Pena, Jake Ramos, Bel Pabunan, Liza Quitlong, & Theodore Marc Gutierrez & Marichiel dela Cruz. The party started at around 1:00pm with members bringing lots of food (potluck) to share with fellow members. ALP President James Kevin Ty then welcome all members and thank them for their great support that leads to ALP's 10th years of existence. ALPer Ronald Sison's son Adrian then lead the prayer invocation before

everyone line up to have their late lunch. The ambience was very good with lots of fellow members using the opportunity to chat on astro related matters :) Afterwards, ALP President James Kevin Ty then introduce fellow ALPer Theodore Marc Gutierrez so he can have some time to introduce his book entitled Astronomer's Tale , which is all about his experience in astronomy. ALP is proud of him for his works and he also announce his upcoming 2nd edition of his book series that is expected to be available by early next year.

James then congratulate 10 members who were presented with ALP's 10 Years Service Award for their exemplary loyalty and selfless contributions to the organization. They were as follows: Jett Aguilar, Edgar Ang, Alberto Lao, Francisco Lao Jr. , Rich Pijuan, Edward Eli Tan, Charito Ty, James Kevin Ty, Jonathan Ty and Alfonso Uy. Last but not the least, the ALP 10th Year Anniversary Yearbook was presented by James to the members. James then thanked ALPers John Ray Cabrera and Arnel Campos for making the yearbook! He also thanked all the ad sponsors for helping fund the yearbook project. The party ended at around 6:00pm .

All images featured in the article are owned by the Astronomical League of the Philippines, Inc.

ALP President James Kevin Ty welcome members to ALP 10th year anniversary get together party.

ALPers bow down their heads as prayer invocation start.

It's Chow time !!!

ALP's Astro Kids Get Together Time :)

ALP group shot!!!

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Thundering typhoons, Earth-shattering earthquakes, floods that might swallow the entire metropolitan Manila, these are the usual catastrophe that would make one religious zealot conclude(on whatever pattern of nature’s wrath) that this is the beginning of the end of times. Yet the greater danger lies above our orbit. It’s the unmistakable outliers of our planetary civilization that poses a more imminent clear and present danger. NEOs(Near Earth Objects) like meteors and asteroids, cosmic radiation, solar flares are but just some of it. And on every near-Erath trajectory of an asteroid, every spray of cosmic radiation, every ejection of solar corona, we just don’t seem to care. Maybe because we don’t have sufficient understanding on their impact on us? Of the symbiosis of life? Or we rely on the first world countries to take cudgels to their resolve? Or we are too busy minding our government’s political drama that we just shrug out shoulder off on what should have been our

planetary duty? Let me provide a clear understanding of the impact from the event last year: Newscientist.as stated by Wunderground.com reported that on midnight of 22 September 2012 and the skies above Manhattan were filled with a flickering curtain of colorful light. Few New Yorkers had seen the aurora this far south but their fascination was short-lived. Within a few seconds, electric bulbs dim med and flickered, then become unusually bright for a fleeting moment. Then all the lights in the state went out. Within 90 seconds, the entire eastern half of the US was without power. A year later and millions of Americans were dead and the nation's infrastructure was in tatters. The World Bank declared America a developing nation. Europe, Scandinavia, China and Japan were also struggling to recover from the same fateful event - a violent storm, 93 million miles away on the surface of the sun. It sounded ridiculous. Surely the sun couldn't create such a profound disaster on Earth. Yet an extraordinary report funded by NASA and issued by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in January 2009-2010 this year claims it could do just that. Over the last few decades, western civilizations have busily sown the seeds of their own destruction. Our modern way of life, with its reliance on technology, has unwittingly exposed us to an extraordinary danger: plasma balls spewed from the surface of the sun could wipe out our power grids, with

catastrophic consequences. The projections of just how catastrophic make chilling reading. "We're moving closer and closer to the edge of a possible disaster," says Daniel Baker, a space weather expert based at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and chair of the NAS committee responsible for the report. It is hard to conceive of the sun wiping out a large amount of our hard-earned progress. Nevertheless, it is possible. The surface of the sun is a roiling mass of plasma - charged high-energy particles - some of which escape the surface and travel through space as the solar wind. From time to time, that wind carries a billion-tonne glob of plasma, a fireball known as a coronal mass ejection (see "When hell comes to Earth"). If one should hit the Earth's magnetic shield, the result could be truly devastating. The incursion of the plasma into our atmosphere causes rapid changes in the configuration of Earth's magnetic field which, in turn, induce currents in the long wires of the power grids. The grids were not built to handle this sort of direct current electricity. The greatest danger is at the step-up and step-down transformers used to convert power from its transport voltage to domestically useful voltage. The increased DC current creates strong magnetic fields that saturate a transformer's magnetic core. The result is runaway current in the transformer's copper wiring, which rapidly heats up and melts. This is exactly what happened in the Canadian province of Quebec in March 1989, and six million people spent 9 hours without electricity. But things could get much, much worse than that. There are two problems to face. The first is the modern electricity grid, which is designed to operate at ever higher voltages over ever larger areas. Though this provides a more efficient way to run the electricity networks, minimizing power losses and wastage through overproduction, it has made them much more vulnerable to space weather. The high-power grids act as particularly efficient antennas, channeling enormous direct currents into the power transformers.

The second problem is the grid's interdependence with the systems that support our lives: water and sewage treatment, supermarket delivery infrastructures, power station controls, financial markets and many others all rely on electricity. Put the two together, and it is clear that a repeat of the Carrington event could produce a catastrophe the likes of which the world has never seen. "It's just the opposite of how we usually think of natural disasters," says John Kappenman, a power industry analyst with the Metatech Corporation of Goleta, California, and an advisor to the NAS committee that produced the report. "Usually the less developed regions of the world are most vulnerable, not the highly sophisticated technological regions.“ The world will, most probably, yawn at the prospect of a devastating solar storm until it happens. Kintner says his students show a "deep indifference" when he lectures on the impact of space weather. But if policy-makers show a similar indifference in the face of the latest NAS report, it could cost tens of millions of lives, Kappenman reckons. "It could conceivably be the worst natural disaster possible," he says. Is this enough for us to be able to cringe in utter fear and ran for our lives(or life boats)? Is this enough iota of proof from a series of it that foretells that we are already at the end of times? First, we have calculated on when will be engulfed by the Sun when it will become Brown Dwarf. Second, we need to revisit our understanding about time, or of space-time continuum. Read more: 6W3:XXYYY4/$Y857$/>8045"+X(%>5<$X+)HIJHZIIJ4KI&I183(5$180"%+1(<$%01NI18$5"/?81.%"+15(0(80%"36$460&+<

All images featured in the article are derived from the twirlit.com

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This is an iconic picture of Albert Einstein standing on a rock stepping-stone, enjoying grabbing some Sun at the sea shore (1945).- chemoton.wordpress.com Einstein love the occasional worship of the solar furnace and the thermal benefit it can give to the body. But does that hold true as well on his equations? Does his equation fairly agree with the modern physics ‘solar dynamics? Another avenue to the understanding of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity can be inferred through studying about the Sun. As claimed by a group of physicists in Portugal who have found that an alternative theory a century

ago by Arthur Eddington is constrained but not ruled out by observations of solar neutrinos and solar acoustic waves. General Theory of Relativity which says that gravity as the curvature of space–time by massive objects, has so far passed every experimental and observational test dreamed up by physicists. But the theory poses several experimental holes. In addition to the difficulty of unifying it with quantum mechanics and the challenge to explain the nature of the enigmatic Dark Matter and repulsive Dark Energy, there remains the conceptual problem of singularities, where the laws of physics simply don’t add up. Since Einstein introduced general relativity in 1916, many alternatives have been proposed. Last year Máximo Bañados of the Pontifical Catholic University in Chile and Pedro Ferreira of Oxford University reported a variant of a theory originally put forward by the British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington that adds a repulsive gravitational term to general relativity. This has the virtue of not requiring singularities, and as a result does not predict that the universe originated from a Big Bang, nor does it imply the formation of black holes. Jordi Casanellas and colleagues at the Technical University of Lisbon, suggested to make the Sun as a prime model for this school of thought. Casanellas's group has calculated that its non-relativistic Newtonian form, the Eddington-inspired theory should predict measurable differences in solar output compared with standard gravitational theory.

The Lisbon researchers have shown that the presence of the repulsive gravity is similar to setting a different value for the gravitational constant inside matter. And with the strength of gravity higher or lower than it would otherwise be inside the Sun, the inner solar temperature is also modified because the Sun is assumed to be in hydrostatic equilibrium. This means that the inward pressure of its mass is balanced by the outward thermal pressure generated by the fusion reactions within it. A higher temperature implies a greater rate of fusion burning, which in turn implies higher emission rates of solar neutrinos. In the same vein, a different strength of gravity inside the Sun implies a variation in its density distribution, which should modify the propagation of acoustic waves measured using the techniques of helioseismology. His team had shown that observations made by neutrino telescopes of the solar neutrino flux coming from the proton–proton chain reaction that produces boron-8 significantly constrain the correction to general relativity, calculating an upper limit of 1.26 G to the effective gravitational constant. Combined with a lower limit of 0.92 G obtained from helioseismic data, the researchers are able to put a significant constraint on the Eddington-inspired theory. However, they point out that their calculations do not rule out such a theory. They say that improving on these upper and lower limits will be difficult because of uncertainties in a few of the parameters within solar models, such as the abundance of Helium on the solar surface. In turn, more sensitive measurements of neutrino fluxes are unlikely to have much of an impact. But they believe their approach could be used to constrain other alternative theories of gravity. Lisbon team member Paolo Pani, said that such theories could be tested experimentally by measuring, for example, the gravitational attraction between a metal ball inserted into a hole in the ground and the mass of the Earth

surrounding it. The idea would be to make the hole just big enough for the ball to fit and no more, so that what is measured is the strength of gravity through matter and not the surrounding void (in this case air). However, Pani points out that doing so would be a considerable experimental challenge. Clifford Will of Washington University in St Louis, US, described the latest work as a "nice example of using the Sun as a laboratory for probing fundamental physics" but added that "it's not yet clear whether the bounds proposed by this paper present serious threats to alternative gravity theories".

How did theoretical physicist and scientific genius Albert Einstein spend his summers? Why, by sailing the open seas, of course! With a pipe dangling from his mouth and wind in his wiry white hair, TIME's Person of the Century spent his leisurely time under the sun. Check out these photos of Einstein chilling! Lomography.com has this picture of him.

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We have seen plastic bottles half-filled with water placed smack at the ceiling hole produces light energy with an almost the same brightness as an incandescent bulb. Our ingenuity as Pinoy have made strides in the global arena when it comes to intellectual practicality. We made our own florescent light, we powered a car through the use of water, these and more are some of our commercially and non-commercially produced intellectual rigors. But what if we go full blast especially in the science that makes use of the natural resource that we have. Geothermal would be the one, but being a country that sits right in the middle of the Earth, we have all the energy we can tap with less-to-none effort. The Solar Energy has been a widespread energy source for other economic sector, and by being so powered the industry with endless streams of energy one can ever imagine. Steve Wright of the energycollective.com wrote that homeowners and business owners who install solar panels on their property enjoy more equitable relationships with their local utilities.

Whereas conventional arrangements between utilities and their customers require the latter to be wholly dependent on the former, solar power users gain a measure of independence from their utilities. Even if their solar panels don't produce all of the power that they need on a daily basis, they'll need to buy less conventional power. If they produce more power than they require, their utilities may actually pay them for it at a fluctuating wholesale rate. For cash-strapped homeowners, this can turn into a significant source of revenue. He add that although the production of solar panels does require some inputs of raw materials and energy, solar power's environmental impact is minimal. The technology produces none of the carbon, methane or particulate emissions that fossil fuels emit, and it doesn't demand large-scale mining or drilling operations. Since panel arrays can be placed on rooftops or in isolated desert areas, solar power's physical footprint is manageable as well. Solar power shouldn't be mistaken for a cure-all that's capable of single-handedly solving all of the world's social, environmental and political ills. However, it's a valuable technology that's increasingly competitive with traditional sources of energy. Moreover, its benefits are undeniable. In the future, solar power is all but assured to have a lasting and overwhelmingly positive impact on our society. All images featured in the article are derived from pupupcity.net

By infohow.org

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Taking a photo of the sun with a standard camera will provide a familiar image: a yellowish, featureless disk, perhaps colored a bit more red when near the horizon since the light must travel through more of Earth's atmosphere and consequently loses blue wavelengths before getting to the camera's lens. The sun, in fact, emits light in all colors, but since yellow is the brightest wavelength from the sun, that is the color we see with our naked eye -- which the camera represents, since one should never look directly at the sun. When all the visible colors are summed together, scientists call this “white light.” Specialized instruments, either in ground-based

or space-based telescopes, however, can observe light far beyond the ranges visible to the naked eye. Different wavelengths convey information about different components of the sun's surface and atmosphere, so scientists use them to paint a full picture of our constantly changing and varying star. Yellow-green light of 5500 Angstroms, for example, generally emanates from material of about 10,000 degrees F (5700 degrees C), which represents the surface of the sun. Extreme ultraviolet light of 94 Angstroms, on the other hand, comes from atoms that are about 11 million degrees F (6,300,000 degrees C) and is a good wavelength for looking at solar flares, which can reach such high temperatures. By examining pictures of the sun in a variety of wavelengths – as is done through such telescopes as NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) and the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) -- scientists can track how particles and heat move through the sun's atmosphere. We see the visible spectrum of light simply because the sun is made up of a hot gas – heat produces light just as it does in an incandescent light bulb. But when it comes to the shorter wavelengths, the sun sends out extreme ultraviolet light and x-rays because it is filled with many kinds of atoms, each of which give off light of a certain wavelength when they reach a certain temperature. Not only does the sun contain many different atoms – helium, hydrogen, iron, for example -- but also different kinds of each atom with different electrical charges, known as ions. Each ion can emit light at

This collage of solar images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows how observations of the sun in different wavelengths helps highlight different aspects of the sun's surface and atmosphere. (The collage also includes images from other SDO instruments that display magnetic and Doppler information.) Credit: NASA/SDO/Goddard Space Flight Center

specific wavelengths when it reaches a particular temperature. Scientists have cataloged which atoms produce which wavelengths since the early 1900s, and the associations are well documented in lists that can take up hundreds of pages. Solar telescopes make use of this wavelength information in two ways. For one, certain instruments, known as spectrometers, observe many wavelengths of light simultaneously and can measure how much of each wavelength of light is present. This helps create a composite understanding of what temperature ranges are exhibited in the material around the sun. Spectrographs don't look like a typical picture, but instead are graphs that categorize the amount of each kind of light. On the other hand, instruments that produce conventional images of the sun focus exclusively on light around one particular wavelength, sometimes not one that is visible to the naked eye. SDO scientists, for example, chose 10 different wavelengths to observe for its Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument. Each wavelength is largely based on a single, or perhaps two types of ions – though slightly longer and shorter wavelengths produced by other ions are also invariably part of the picture. Each wavelength was chosen to highlight a particular part of the sun's atmosphere. From the sun's surface on out, the wavelengths SDO observes, measured in Angstroms, are: •  4500: Showing the sun's surface or

photosphere. •  1700: Shows surface of the sun, as well as a

layer of the sun's atmosphere called the chromosphere, which lies just above the photosphere and is where the temperature begins rising.

•  1600: Shows a mixture between the upper photosphere and what's called the transition region, a region between the chromosphere and the upper most layer of the sun's atmosphere called the corona. The transition region is where the temperature rapidly rises.

•  304: This light is emitted from the chromosphere and transition region.

•  171: This wavelength shows the sun's atmosphere, or corona, when it's quiet. It also shows giant magnetic arcs known as coronal loops.

•  193: Shows a slightly hotter region of the corona, and also the much hotter material of a solar flare.

•  211: This wavelength shows hotter, magnetically active regions in the sun's corona.

•  335: This wavelength also shows hotter, magnetically active regions in the corona.

•  94: This highlights regions of the corona during a solar flare.

•  131: The hottest material in a flare.

All images featured in the article are derived from the NASA.gov

Each of the wavelengths observed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was chosen to emphasize a specific aspect of the sun's surface or atmosphere. This image shows imagery both from the Advanced Imaging Assembly (AIA), which helps scientists observe how solar material moves around the sun's atmosphere, and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI), which focuses on the movement and magnetic properties of the sun's surface. Credit: NASA/SDO/Goddard Space Flight Center

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Whole Disk Sun in H-Alpha Megrez 90, Coronado Solarmax 90/BF15 | DMK51AU02, 0.5 focal reducer 03:02 UT, April 5, 2013 | Quezon City Philippines | Imager: Jett Aguilar

Sunspot AR1476 HAlpha Imager: Jett Aguilar May 8, 2012 | Coronado SM90 / BF15, 2.5x TV Powermate BarlowMegrez 90, DMK 31AU03, 01:25 UT , May 8, 2012, Quezon City, Philippines

It's Chow time !!!

Huge Eruptive Prominence & Large Dark Filament Date: November 13., 2011 07:48:48am | Imager: James Kevin Ty Location: Tondo , Manila | Camera: ATIK 1HS II webcam, Lens: Coronado PST-Ha with 2x Barlow lens | Mount: Vixen GP-DX mount

ALP group shot!!!

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Hubble's Universe: Greatest Discoveries and Latest Images&

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The Hubble Space Telescope. It’s mankind’s most daring venture in space. It has also been regarded as man’s eye in the sky, an official planetary optic having photographed hundreds to thousands of dazzling view of our neighboring galaxies and celestial objects.. And beyond. So farm, no other optic powerful enough combines instant mainstream recognition with the production of consistently spectacular images. Yet few people outside of the astronomy community realize that Hubble is now at the apex of its imaging capabilities. A collection of stunningly detailed pictures, made possible by the new Wide Field Camera 3, has yet to be incorporated into a popular-level book. Until now. The book by Terence Dickenson arrayed some of the finest ever photographs mas has ever taken. According to Amazon’s description the Hubble's Universe will be the premier venue for the Hubble Telescope's most recent visual

splendors. Bestselling astronomy writer Terence Dickinson showcases extraordinary late-breaking pictures, many of which have yet to receive wide distribution as news stories or in publications outside scientific papers, and presents a breathtaking portfolio drawn from an archive of over 500,000 existing Hubble images. The accompanying text balances accuracy with accessibility, Dickinson's hallmark. And thanks to the author's familiarity with Hubble's history and discoveries and his access to top Hubble scientists for insight and accuracy, the text includes facts and tidbits not found in any other book. Combined with hundreds of brilliant images, the clear, succinct and illuminating narrative brings to life the fascinating forces at work in the universe. Dickinson indeed detailed the Hubble Space Telescope's contributions to science in both text and images. The book's precise descriptions and captions brilliantly complement the nearly 300 full-color Hubble images that form the bulk of the work. Its ten chapters showcase a selection of Hubble's most significant images with explanations of the discoveries they helped make. The book encapsulates a visually breathtaking array of Hubble's images in an extraordinary new volume. In fact, this catalogue of discoveries made by the Hubble telescope had placed this book as a gallery of the a work of art, albeit out of this world.

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F80%"/"+75(<&G$()9$&".&06$&&'67<7337/$8S&*/5&Home of the Dedicated Astronomers

http://www.astroleaguephils.org